Browsing by department "Medicinska fakulteten"

Analyzing the relationship between analytical thinking and religion has produced rather consistent results. The purpose of this literature review is to assemble research data and find out what kind of connection there is between analytical cognitive style and religion and what could explain the connection. There were used both correlative and experimental studies to investigate the relationship between analytical thinking and religion. There was a weak negative connection between analytical thinking and religion. This connection was systematically observed in numerous studies. More analytically-minded people were therefore less religious on average compared to people who were not inclined to analytical thinking. Experimental studies used, among other things, a verbal and visual priming method to stimulate analytical thinking, resulting in a decline in religion. However, it is not yet known how long or under what circumstances an analytical priming effect will occur. This may explain why experimental studies have also yielded contradictory results. Attempts have been made to explain the connection. Conflict detection theory has the idea that people with analytical cognitive style are better to detect contradictions in situations requiring reasoning and, consequently, to adopt an analytical mindset. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the cause of the connection would be cognitive ability or epistemic rationality. In these studies, the connection between religion and analytical cognitive style remained after controlling cognitive ability or epistemic rationality. Research suggests that, while cognitive ability and epistemic rationality are related to religion, they do not remove the negative connection between analytical thinking and religion. Longitudinal studies are needed to be able to say about the causal relationship between analytical thinking and religion.

Afasialla tarkoitetaan kielen oppimisiän jälkeen syntynyttä kielellistä häiriötä. Se johtuu aivoihin kohdistuvasta vauriosta, useimmin aivoverenkiertohäiriöstä. Afasia ilmenee eri ihmisillä eri tavoin, mutta se vaikeuttaa henkilön mahdollisuuksia tuottaa, ymmärtää ja käyttää kieltä. Anomia eli nimeämisen vaikeus on afasian yleisin ja pitkäikäisin oire, jota esiintyy käytännössä kaikilla afasian saaneilla henkilöillä. Anomiaa ja sen kuntoutusta on tutkittu paljon, mutta tieto siitä, mitkä tekijät ennustavat kuntoutuksesta hyötymistä, on vielä vähäistä. Hyötymisellä voidaan tarkoittaa paitsi terapiassa harjoiteltujen käsitteiden parempaa nimeämistä terapian jälkeen, myös sitä, miten hyödyt yleistyvät sellaisiin käsitteisiin, joita ei ole terapiassa harjoiteltu. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli löytää mitä tahansa sellaisia tekijöitä, joiden perusteella voidaan ennustaa sitä, miten afasian saanut henkilö hyötyy saamastaan kuntoutuksesta. Lisäksi pyrittiin löytämään vastauksia siihen, miten ennustavia tekijöitä voidaan hyödyntää kuntoutuksen suunnittelussa. Tutkimus toteutettiin integroivana kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Aineistoa haettiin neljästä tietokannasta: Scopus, PubMed, Science citation index expanded ja EBCSO academic search complete. Hakulauseke muodostui käsitteiden afasia, anomia, terapia, tulos ja ennuste erilaisista englanninkielisistä vastineista. Jo hakelausekkeessa haun ulkopuolelle rajattiin primaarit progressiiviset afasiat. Aineistoon hyväksyttiin vain vertaisarvioituja, englanninkielisiä artikkeleita, jotka abstraktin perusteella vastasivat asetettuihin tutkimuskysymyksiin. Hakulausekkeella löytyi 54 artikkelia, joista aineistoon valikoitui kuusi. Lisäksi aineistoon poimittiin kaksi artikkelia hakujen ulkopuolelta. Tulokset osoittivat, että anomiakuntoutuksesta hyötymistä voidaan ennustaa erityisesti kielellis-kognitiivisten toimintojen perusteella. Tarkemmin ennustearvoa oli sillä, millä tasolla kielellistä prosessointia häiriö sijaitsee. Kun leksikaalis-semanttinen prosessointi oli säilynyt vahvana, hyödyt olivat vaikutukseltaan myös yleistyviä. Sanan psykolingvistisistä ominaisuuksista vain sanan helppo kuviteltavuus ennusti sen parempaa nimeämistä terapian jälkeen. Tiedot kuntoutettavan kielellisistä ja kognitiivisista taidoista ovat hyödyllisiä sopivaa kuntoutusmenetelmää valittaessa ja ne auttavat suunnittelemaan kohdennetumpia interventioita, jossa huomioidaan henkilön vahvuudet ja heikkoudet.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic common gastrointestinal disorder. There are three main factors which can be linked with the syndrome, genetical vulnerability, psychological burden and behavioural factors. Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of psychosocial treatments for irritable bowel syndrome. The objective of psychosocial treatments is to strengthen coping-skills, behavioural functioning and improve quality of life in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome. This study focuses on the efficacy and mechanisms of psychosocial treatments. 4 The data was collected via online databases. Selected studies evaluated effectiveness of psychotherapy, mindfulness and online based therapeutic support groups for stress-reduction and emotion regulation. Effectiveness was measures by quality of life and symptom questionnaires and interviews. Results were also assessed after two to six months follow-up periods. Results showed improvement in quality of life and reduction on symptoms. In most of the studies effect sizes were medium or large (d > 0.47). Improvements were maintained until the follow-up periods. In societal perspective prominent result was that group interventions and online based psychotherapies provided improvements in symptoms and quality of life. This study identifies common mechanisms between various treatments. Affecting mechanisms were associated with psychological distress, behaviour and thoughts towards the syndrome. These findings suggest that treatments including stress reduction, self-monitoring and acceptance of syndrome may provide benefit in irritable bowel syndrome.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a heterogenous group of disorders, with the core symptoms appearing as different levels of difficulties in communicative and social skills, but there are a number of neuroanatomical, neurotransmitter related and gastrointestinal aberrations that have also been linked to the disorder. The etiology of ASD is not very well known, but in addition to a strong genetic background, current research shows that prenatal factors might play a significant role in the development of the disorder. In this review, the proposed mechanisms of action of some prenatal risk factors are discussed in the light of current research. Many other risk factors have repeatedly been linked to ASD in empirical studies as well, but this review focuses on the possible paths through which valproic acid (VPA), thalidomide and vitamin D might be connected to the development of ASD. In addition, the retinoic acid-estradiol theory is presented, which aims to explain the link between ASD and a number of risk factors. Several proposed mechanisms of action have been formed for each of the discussed risk factors, but only some of them are presented in this review. VPA’s role in ASD is examined through the most widely used animal model of ASD (prenatally VPA-induced rats), and the role in the etiology of human ASD through proposed aberrations of both ammonium and folate metabolism caused by prenatal VPA exposure. Prenatal exposure to thalidomide might influence the functioning of the protein cereblon, which according to research is linked to the functioning of ion channels and mRNA activation in certain parts of the brain. The effects of Vitamin D deficiency are theorized to be connected to ASD through the human serotonergic system. This is explained through two genes (TPH1 and TPH2), which hold a crucial role in serotonin synthesis, and Vitamin D is known to affect the expression of these genes. According to the retinoic acid-estradiol theory, the balance between three endogenous chemical substances (retinoic acid [RA] estradiol and human alpha-fetoprotein [HAFP]) have an essential effect on fetal development: RA on certain genes’ expression, estradiol on neural defeminization processes and HAFP by protecting against harmful effects of both RA and estradiol. According to the theory, prenatal risk factors can be divided to promoters of RA-sensitive growth (VPA), inhibitors of HAFP production (thalidomide, ethanol, the ToRCH [toxoplasmosis-rubella-cytomegalovirus-herpes] infection family, interleukins) and promoters of estrogen-sensitive growth (hypothyroidism, iodine deficiency). Under the umbrella term “ASD” lies a wide variety of disorders with big differences in the level of severity and the ways of showing symptoms. In the light of today’s empirical knowledge, there is no certainty weather or not ASD is one single disorder or are there actually several completely unrelated disorders which are just arbitrarily grouped together.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are developmental disorders that include abnormalities in social reciprocity and communication, with restricted and repetitive behavior and/or limited interests. Presence of the symptoms in the early childhood is essential for diagnosing the autism spectrum disorder, but recognizing those symptoms is often challenging. This is because of the heterogeneity of the symptoms in each individual, and the strong development that takes place in the first years of life, which may contain significant individual differences. The aim of this study is to investigate which are the factors that most strongly predict later diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, and by which age those factors can be detected for the first time. Despite the many challenges considering the recognition of ASD, detecting it as early as possible would be important for interventions, because the intervention is more effective when applied as early as possible. One reason for this is the strong neural development that takes place in the early childhood. Also, because the symptoms of ASD are not separate from each other, difficulties in one domain may complicate the development of other areas, leading to accumulation effect. According to the latest research, there are many signs that may point to autism spectrum disorder in the early childhood even in the first year of life. Some examples of those signs include abnormalities in the handling of objects or the amount of the repetitive behavior. There may also be differences in the social interaction in the first year of life. In addition to diagnostic symptoms, there may be, for example, some self-regulatory problems, which together with other signs may be important for the recognition of ASD. Because there may be huge individual variation in the early signs of autism spectrum disorder, a single symptom could not reveal the disorder by itself. When trying to recognize ASD it is essential to pay attention to many different signs and whether or not those signs appear together. For example, the repetitive behavior together with the difficulties of social interaction may be alarming. The co-occurrence of multiple signs may give a reason to monitor the individual’s development more closely.

The goal of my thesis was to find out how personality affects the way people use social media and how social media profile information expresses people’s personality. I limited the studies involved to those in which personality was measured with same or similar inventories that are based on Big Five theory. The studies used were searched from Google Scholar and ScienceDirect databases with search statements ”Big Five” AND ”Social media”, Personality AND ”Social media” and Personality AND ”Social media use”. Extroverted people used social media for socializing and communication which was expressed through profiles for example as many connections to other people. Neurotic people used social media for communication and attention seeking. Neurotic people do not want to tell about their neuroticism to other people which might explain why neuroticism did not always have an association with behaviour in social media and why it was not expressed through profile information. People who are open to new experiences used social media for private communication. In profiles communication was expressed through broad networks. Openness to new experiences had incoherent association with using social media for gathering information. People who are high in conscientiousness used social media to support their social relations and for private communication. People who are high in conscientiousness do not want other people to see that they use social media because it is pointless which might explain why conscientiousness was not usually expressed through profile information. People who are high in agreeableness used social media for communication. Agreeableness is not associated with behaviour which can be seen in social media which might be the reason why agreeableness was not seen from profile information. Personality traits are expressed in social media profiles and behaviours in different ways which Big Five theory credibly explains.

Syfte. Studier har indikerat att en stor andel av den åldrade befolkningen har hörselnedsättning och att dessa personer behöver stöd i vardagliga kommunikationssituationer. Personer med nedsatt hörsel har visat sig varsebli tal bättre i diskussionssituationer där den visuella läppbilden är närvarande tillsammans med det auditiva talljudet. Samma fenomen har också noterats bland normalt hörande personer i bullrig ljudmiljö. För att få reda på vilken nytta rehabiliteringen av visuell talperceptionsförmåga (läppläsningsförmåga) har för vuxna personer med hörselnedsättning, behövs grundläggande statistisk information om hurudan den auditiva, den visuella och den audiovisuella talperceptionsförmågan hos vuxna personer är. Syftet med denna kandidatavhandling är att granska hur den visuella talperceptionsförmågan förändras i vuxen ålder. Avhandlingen jämför unga vuxnas visuella talperceptionskunskaper med äldre vuxnas visuella talperceptionskunskaper. Arbetshypotesen är att den visuella talperceptionsförmågan försämras med åldern på grund av försvagade kognitiva förmågor. Metoder. Det valda ämnet granskades genom en integrerad litteraturöversikt. Forskningsfrågan omvandlades till en engelskspråkig sökfras enligt Booles logik och sökfrasen genomfördes i databaserna Ovid Medline, PubMed och Scopus. Använda termer vid litteratursökningen var speechreading, lipreading, audiovisual speech perception, audiovisual speech recognition, audiovisual integration, aptitude, skill och ability. Litteratursökningen resulterade i 506 artikelträffar som utgående från rubrik, abstrakt och tillgänglighet slutligen avgränsades till fyra artiklar. Utöver dessa handplockades ytterligare två artiklar. De valda sex artiklarna var fall-referentstudier som behandlade visuell talperceptionskunskap hos unga och hos äldre vuxna. Artiklarna granskades kritiskt och deras resultat jämfördes sinsemellan. Resultat och slutsatser. Studierna visade enhetligt att unga vuxna har bättre visuell talperceptionsförmåga än äldre vuxna, vilket även har konstaterats i tidigare forskning. Arbetshypotesen fick stöd i och med att artiklarna uppskattade att den försämrade förmågan i visuell talperception hos äldre vuxna beror på försämrade kognitiva förmågor och på grund av försämrade integrationskunskaper.

Depersonalization/derealization-symptoms are a subclass of dissociation symptoms. These symptoms are characterized by numbness of emotions, a feeling of being separated from one’s body, and a feeling of unreality of the outside world. The source of these symptoms is unclear at the moment. However, studies have shown that depersonalization/derealization symptoms can be caused by traumatic stress experiences. This raises the question of how depersonalization/derealization symptoms could be connected to daily, minor stress. Could daily stress also be an influencing factor on depersonalization/derealization symptoms? On the other hand, it could be that depersonalization/depersonalization experiences would cause a person to be more vulnerable to experiencing stress. In this review I take a closer look at the relationship between daily stress and depersonalization/derealization symptoms. It seems that a positive connection exists between depersonalization/derealization symptoms and daily stress. However, the direction of the connection remains unclear. There is some evidence depersonalization/derealization symptoms and daily stress often appear simultaneously. In addition, it seems that people who experience high amounts of depersonalization/derealization symptoms experience stress more intensely than the average person. Daily stress has also been shown to be a predictor of depersonalization/derealization symptoms when the effect of other psychopathology symptoms has been taken into account. The amount of other psychopathology seems to be an important moderator of the connection. All in all, the relationship between daily stress and depersonalization/derealization symptoms seems to be very complicated and more research is needed on this area.

Dissociation is defined as disruption in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. The definition has some similarities with five symptom domains of schizophrenia; hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, disorganized motor behavior, and negative symptoms. This review aims to clarify the relationship between dissociation and schizophrenia from three perspectives. These are; dissociative symptoms in schizophrenia patients; schizophrenia related symptoms in dissociative patients; and the correlation between schizophrenia related symptoms and dissociative symptoms. The most systematically studied area was dissociative symptoms in schizophrenia patients, and the results showed that schizophrenia patients do not have particularly high dissociative symptoms compared to other mental health disorders. In contrast schizophrenia related symptoms in patients with dissociative disorder diagnosis is somewhat understudied area; yet a very few studies have found connections particularly between dissociative disorders and auditory hallucinations. There seems to be relatively high correlation between schizophrenia related symptoms and DES-scores. Research evidence was compared to three theories that have tried to explain the relationship between dissociation and schizophrenia. The theory by Moskowiz, Read, Farrelly, Rudgeair and Williams, according to which all symptoms of schizophrenia, (possibly excluding negative symptoms) would be caused by dissociation, found no support. The duality model by Şar and Öztürk, and Ross’ and Keyes’ model of dissociative subgroup within schizophrenia, were not in conflict with research evidence. However, more research is needed for reliable evaluation of these models.

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability with a neurobiological origin. Structural and functional abnormalities have been identified in the brains of people with dyslexia. These abnormalities, which are believed to arise early during fetal development, are thought to underlie the deficits in phonological skills primarily associated with dyslexia. Therefore, early identification of children at risk and detailed insight into the linguistic processes affected are important to offer personalized support measures. The aim of this thesis was to study current structural and functional findings associated with the neurobiology of dyslexia. Specifically, the study focused on how brain areas and neurobiological processes involved in reading are different in people with dyslexia compared to normal readers, and whether the same structural and functional differences can be identified in all persons with dyslexia. This work was performed as a descriptive review article, where relevant scientific original articles were screened for using search databases and a defined search phrase. The material was restricted to include articles from the last five years. The material included research on developmental dyslexia where the results had been obtained using MRI, fMRI, or MRI-based methods to obtain results with good spatial resolution. The results demonstrated structural anomalies in gray and white matter in people with dyslexia. In addition, locally abnormal brain activation patterns as well as local and global abnormalities in functional connections within and between brain areas associated with various linguistic components were demonstrated in people with dyslexia. Different subtypes of dyslexia could be differentiated based on differences in brain activity. Taken together, the results presented in this thesis show that atypical local and global patterns of gray matter and local differences in white matter characterize dyslexia. Furthermore, it is shown, that several different linguistic components are affected by dyslexia. Whether different subtypes of dyslexia can be distinguished based on structural differences remains unclear, but differentiation between subtypes of dyslexia based on differences in brain activity is possible.